With the festive season in full swing, Bay of Plenty residents continue to shop until they drop with annual spending increasing 6.9 per cent for the first two weeks of December.

Paymark figures released this week reveal Bay shoppers spent $140.3million in the 14 days between December 1 and 14 – up on last years $131.2m.

Shoppers join the Christmas rush.

The trend continues nationwide, with Kiwis getting stuck into their Christmas shopping, 7.7 per cent on last December – to sit above the 5.7 per cent average increase seen during the first 11 months of the year.

Paymark, which processes about three quarters of all electronic transactions in New Zealand, saw more than $2.6billion pass through its network in the 14 days between December 1 and 14.

Shoppers put aside their superstitions on Friday, December 13, turning out in their masses and recording the busiest shopping day of the month and the second busiest day of the year so far.

'On Friday we saw $3.6million transactions through the network, equivalent to just over $187million in spending,” says Paymark head of customer relations Mark Spicer.

'Past trends indicate that we can expect spending to continue this growth pattern in the next week as Kiwis count down the days to Christmas.”

Sectors reaping the benefits of the Christmas build-up include accommodation providers, experiencing an increase of 11.7 per cent, restaurants, bars and cafes, up 9.9 per cent, and both liquor retailers and takeaways up 10.5 per cent.

'It appears Kiwis are continuing to splash out on home DIY goods, with hardware and building supply outlets up 12 per cent year-on-year.

'Electronics retailers also showed strong gains over the fourteen day period, up 9.1 per cent, possibly buoyed by the recent launch of gaming consoles and the strong Kiwi dollar impacting electronic goods prices.”

Tauranga Mitre 10 Mega manager Wayne Mansell feels the store is not any busier than last year but as always is expecting a late flurry of Christmas shopping as people prepare to put their handyman skills to good use during summer.

'We have not recognised anything unusual that's happening, just a general build up towards Christmas; it's spread right across the shop,” says Wayne.

'We get the DIY people after Christmas with a lot of people going on holiday who start projects. The bits and pieces that should have been fixed aren't fixed; and the bits and pieces that should have been painted, haven't been painted.”

Bayfair Shopping Centre manager Steve Ellingford says the latest figures back up a strong level of confidence in the shopping sector, not only for December but previous months.

He believes the buoyancy in the market is returning a high level of sales and interest in the department and speciality stores, particularly women's and men's fashion, and jewellery.

'For us it goes back the last four months back to August. Growth has been fantastic for sales averaging over six per cent per month and November sales just came in and they were 10.2 per cent,” says Steve.

'I suggest foot traffic is strong and it shows people are spending.”